His name was Samil.

An aging man (about 50 years old) that was more than he let on.

He was bald and had the eyes of a snake.

But they didn’t represent how sneaky he was, they represented his cruelty.

He was born in a poor village back when the capital still hadn’t form.

Samil was destined for a life there, or so he initially thought.

One day, representatives of the king came to his village and said they were looking for talented youths.

Having an opportunity to leave the village for good, Samil jumped at this chance.

Unfortunately, he was turned away from the test they were giving.

He was told that he was too old and had he been a year younger, they would’ve given him the test.

The test was used to find the kids with the most potential in the village.

The most promising youths would be taken to the capital and trained to quickly developed skilled workers.

When he was turned away, Samil was devastated.

His parents were poor and had no skills to pass to him.

They couldn’t afford to apprentice him out either.

Samil let his anger and resentment fester inside of him.

He hated the testers for turning him away from what he thought was his right.

He hated the kids who were taken since he thought they were laughing at him.

It seemed he would always be stuck this way.

That is, until he joined the army.

The capital had yet to put up walls and the king had yet to conqueror the last of the surrounding countries.

Samil joined as a soldier, was hoping for anything, including death.

He was extremely depressed at his spot in life.

But he discovered he was good at one thing, and that was fighting.

Time and time again, he would survive even the most arduous of battles.

In due time, he rose to the highest rank he could.

Going any higher required knowing someone who would promote you.

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Despite that, he was glad to lead his own squadron.

After the war, Samil felt he was still owed his due.

He had managed to get in to the capital but he was changed.

The battlefield had made him cruel and ambitious.

The other countries never liked the terms they signed and the citizens proved to have divisive loyalties.

Despite the fact that they all lived in the same city, every group was out for their own agendas.

Cold, calculating and prideful, Samil started to build up a movement.

Multiple resistance cells had sprung up in the disadvantaged lower district.

And during the years, the king started to lose his power physically.

His health was starting to fail and all the forces started to vie for power in the shadows.

Samil was prepared to seize power through a coup.

The guards and soldiers that now protected the capital had never really seen combat.

They were all probably second or third or so sons looking for an occupation.

As a result, Samil gathered the veterans that he felt would listen to him and organized them.

Patient as Samil was, he was also arrogant and this didn’t mix well with the enormous pride he acquired.

He wanted to crown himself king and would do anything to achieve it.

Despite hearing of the noble’s magical powers, he merely ignored it.

‘People all die, it’s only a matter of finding what does it’ was his mindset.

He wanted his takeover to be swift and with over whelming power.

Along the way, he would eliminate anyone who could be seen as a legitimate ruler.

The heir to the throne was exiled and imprisoned for a coup of his own.

Samil thought that he was just weak and that he would do better.

One day, Samil’s efforts were dashed.

A girl appeared from nowhere and started to talk to the different resistance cells.

Samil was slowly gathering the cells through promises of power and through alliances.

He was prepared to kill any of them afterwards as long he got to claim the city.

This girl though was offering a completely different approach.

She championed the ideals of democracy.

The people were the nation and only through a social contract with them are the nobles given power.

In the beginning this was true, monsters, demons, and other beasts use to roam the earth in abundance.

Now it was relatively safe to travel the lands.

The girl spoke treacherous ideas of overthrowing the nobles.

She claimed that this way, they were removed from power more easily and could not claw for it without a fight.

Having elected officials would let the people decide the direction of the nation, she said.

These were exciting ideas that had never been spoken of before in these lands.

They spread like wild fire and soon the girl became a leader of a mounting resistance.

Her name was Aura and she had become Samil’s enemy.

Though she called for a nonviolent transition of power, Aura knew the nobles wouldn’t just give up power.

So, she asked Samil to join her cause with his forces and resources.

Through gritted teeth, Samil begrudgingly agreed to her proposal.

But Aura proved to be too popular a figure.

As a result, Samil took matters in to his own hands.

The carriage slowly stopped in front of a dark alley in the central district.

It’s door was slowly opened and Samil got in.

“Duke Marren, it’s my pleasure to finally meet you”

Samil bowed with his best fake smile on.

“Hmph, what is it that you want?”

Samil had used some connections to send a message to meet with the duke.

He looked over the duke and sized him up.

The duke was in his late 60s and had graying hair.

But one could see that he had a fighting spirit, he had yet to lose all his strength from his days fighting the king.

As backup, he had one of his personal knights sit with him.

Samil thought that these two would be nothing for him if negotiations broke down.

“Like I said in the letter I have information on who the leader of the resistance is”

Despite the fact that the resistance was not a united organization, the nobles didn’t know this.

“I can read, you dunce. Tell me what you want for this information”

“Oh I just hope to be in your good graces, if the house of Marren should find themselves in an even higher position soon”

Duke Marren raised his eyebrow.

“Oh? I see, very well then. Now give us the one spreading treason”

Samil nodded and started to give the duke the details.